Maya's Shower in Swan

My niece Sarah and nephew Nick happened to be visiting. Perfect timing!

On July 9, wonderful friends held a shower for us here at home. Once again, Maya received beautiful keepsakes and clothes (lots), and many wonderful toys. As a group gift from some of the families in my sorority, she even received a Princess chair - the one you see her sitting on, AND, she received her first two-wheel bike from Les' morning coffee crew. Thank you so much, EVERYONE! A huge thank-you to Ann, Crystal, Janine and Leanne for planning and organizing the shower and to Leanne for hosting! Such wonderful friends you all are! p.s. Maya's dress is a little snug here, and I think that's the last time she'll be wearing it. She now weighs 23 lbs and was just under 20 lbs when we adopted her.

Secret Note in Maya's Shoe

Last night an awesome thing happened and if this has happened to any other families, please let us know! My niece was wondering if Maya has shoes when we received her, so I showed them to her. Sarah was examining the shoes and noticed a red paper under the insole of one shoe. I told her to pull it out and maybe it was a secret message. Well, we found a letter written in Chinese on a separate paper inside the torn red paper, (red for good luck). We were anxious to get it translated, so today took it to a Chinese man who is originally from Hong Kong and could read the Cantonese writing. We later showed it to a young woman who works at one of the Chinese restaurants in town and she added to the information. The letter is to us, Maya's Canadian family! Unbelievable! It is from Maya's Nanny Mom from the orphanage and they had actually given Maya the name Xiao Xue (Little Snow). In the greeting, she writes, "How are you Mr. and Mrs. Xiao Xue's Canadian Mom and Dad," and then she writes about how happy they are that Maya is with us and tells how much they cared about her and will miss her. She was always happy and healthy while living with them. She would also like to have contact with us to see how Maya's new life is with us in Canada. She even gave her address and cell phone number and asked that we not send anything to her at the orphanage because she will not receive it. Of course it would be unacceptable by the orphanage or the Chinese Government for there to be contact between the nannies and the adoptive families. She then signed her name. It must be extremely difficult for the caregivers in the Social Welfare Institutes and foster homes to have to say good-bye to the children. We may get together with someone who speaks Cantonese here sometime and give her a call first, before sending her anything. I think that this is amazing that she took the time to write the letter specifically to us and take the chance on us finding it hidden in the shoe. Thank goodness that my niece is a great detective! If she hadn't had a good look at the shoes, or even asked about them, we may never have found this note. I wonder if she does this with all of the children? Stella's mom, and all other adoptive parents out there, check your child's shoes!

Cantonese note from Maya's Nanny Mom to us.

Notice the red peeking out of one shoe?


Ladybug Snack Pac we received as a gift from our friend's Doug and Dee. Thank you! We love it!

Citizenship

Yesterday Maya received her Canadian Citizenship certificate in the mail. It took about three weeks to arrive and we're glad it's finally here! Now, Maya can be added to my Manitoba Health Insurance, apply for a Social Insurance Number and then we can set up an RESP for her. I think our paperwork is finally slowing down. We also are sending all of the documents that our agency requires from us, to them today. I have family here helping to have fun with Maya and will post some pictures later. There is another baby shower for us tomorrow evening, hosted by friends here where we live. Should be fun!

Settling In

We are finally home again after spending a week at my parents' home. I had an appointment and then a Meeting Maya come-and-go shower was held for us in my home town. It was wonderful! Maya met many people and received so many beautiful gifts. Thank you to Deanna and Kim for arranging and hosting this event and to everyone else who made the evening so memorable.

Maya is settling in nicely, but we have been very, very busy during these past two and a half weeks. She is coping very well with all of the changes and goes with the flow no matter where we are. Maya also enjoys all of the attention that she receives everywhere we go! She can put on quite the show and is a great little entertainer. She can say Da-da, bye-bye, Papa and we thought she tried to say puppy today. When playing with words and sounds, she can say Mum-mum, but not when asked to say it. We have had several play dates already and it is surprising to see how Maya interacts with other children. She is quite possessive of me if another child is on my lap, has gobbled up snack crackers so that no one else can have any, (but, at other times, shares), and seems to be quite assertive in her actions. She is learning how to play with toys more, loves to sing and dance and enjoys books. She is also learning that crying can get her things - sometimes... well, most of the time. She's a smart cookie! Maya also loves to give kisses and has been able to blow kisses for a couple of weeks now. She is so cute and even makes the smacking noises. That's about all I have time to write about for now, but will post some pictures of what's been happening lately.